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Strengths:
Risk management information
Marketplace discussion
Weaknesses:
Business overview
Forward-looking information
The front section of Wolseley’s report is dominated by photographic spreads explaining the group’s five key focus areas. The spreads explain why these issues are important to the business and how they’re being approached. The link between strategy and non-financial KPIs is also addressed, although it would be nice to see the strategy flow more clearly through the operational reviews.
Risk management coverage and marketplace discussions are also strong. Risks are tabled alongside relevant management actions; the performance review features an overview of the competitive environment; and the operational reviews include commentary about each of the group’s key markets. The biggest weakness here is the business overview, which doesn’t appear until page 23 – and is largely narrative in nature. There’s also room for improvement in the level of forward-looking information provided. Coverage of supplier issues is, however, among the best in the FTSE 100.
Online:
There’s a lot to commend Wolseley’s HTML report for. Strong navigation, for example, is enhanced by a ‘turn page’ option; a download centre offers both Excel and PDF downloads; and enlarged versions of all charts can be viewed in a separate window. Clearer icons would be useful – particularly for the download centre and Excel spreadsheets – but this is a relatively minor issue in a generally good report.
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